This is a Lott to digest. I had to read through it twice to follow your progress. Amazing how several little things add up. Thanks for posting.
No problem....this is what I believe is the purpose of a BBS like this 1....to post pertinent data that can assist someone else that owns 1 of these vehicles.
Knowledge not shared is knowledge wasted...…………. And the older these cars get the more important this kind of info will become as more & more folks are buying essentially 10yr old or older cars so there'll be a LOT more wore out stuff to deal with that gets passed on to another owner (like me for an example as I bought mine w\ 139,438 mi on her already but I expected to find some stuff wrong or bad...a lot of folks won't touch 1 of these cars w\ this many miles on them but I am blessed to have an automotive background to be able to deal with\decipher these issues, just needed a little technical knowledge to be able to effectively deal w\ the more modern aspects) that may not register but needs to have attention drawn towards.
Thru all this, what I've found is the importance of having & using the right diagnostic tools that can unlock a LOT of data & potential w\ these computer controlled modern Mustangs, make it available to the general Mustang owner to use to help maintain, repair & optimize total car reliability & performance & reduce operational cost of ownership while increasing the fun factor of owning a Mustang......
I've also found out that it is
very easy to
create more trouble than otherwise by using techniques\products that were fine on the older, less sophisticated vehicles thinking they will be fine used w\ these newer vehicles......depending on the technique\product, not so much.
Example: Using dielectric grease on modern COP coil boots. This would work just fine on the old, distributor driven ignition systems as these systems are lower voltage system designs due to engines then tending to run rich AFR's so those ignition systems don't need the necessary spark energy to fire a plug under compression so you could get away w\ using this grease to make removal of spark plug wire boots easier. But nowadays w\ cars being much more fuel efficient (meaning they are designed to run using much more lean AFR's now) which requires a much higher voltage ignition system to fire the same plug. The COP coils are MUCH more potent & have much less energy loss to the plug due to proximity but spark plug gaps are much wider to better ionize the leaner AFR's so by using this same product w\ these COP coil designed ignition systems you're setting yourself up for potential trouble (misfires) you wouldn't have if this same grease isn't used at all, as well as the plug design used w\ them (smooth porcelains are more prone to misfires than a ribbed design & the plug core resistor's resistance value is also more important). Those Champion 9406 plugs are a damn good plug but don't use dielectric grease w\ them due to the smooth porcelain design AND the plug center core resistor value is higher than the MC plugs (tested at 6.92K-7.66K vs 3.97K-4.20K for MC HJSC-24FP OEM plugs which also have ribbed porcelains to increase misfire resistance...IOW's are DESIGNED to work w\ these COP coils w\o any thing else put on them) making them very prone to misfiring as the COP coils generate so much more voltage energy, if
anything gives them a lesser resistant path to fire than the spark plug gap it's going there & since this grease is silicone-based which has an affinity to adsorb moisture which is good to protect low voltage electrical contacts from it but not so good to insulate a high voltage ignition system since this moisture resides on the silicone film's surface (gets there due to air exchange within the spark plug well from heat cycling as these boots are vented & will get worse as AAT's get lower) so can provide another path for the spark energy to get to the spark plug shell since the boot ends come in close proximity to the shell (1/2" or less). Also read the description on any of the actual packaging of this dielectric grease as opposed to any online or book description of the same grease to ensure that you're not being duped into buying or using it w\ modern high voltage ignition systems as most of what I've found out since my issues is that the vast majority of actual package descriptions of this grease may not mention ANY usage of this stuff w\ spark plug boots or high voltage COP ignition systems....only on low voltage electrical connections (24v or lower) so be careful of the "marketing" that you read.....
I found out the hard way as I've always used WD-40 for this in times past (it
is formulated to displace moisture & not be electrically conductive thus it is truly dielectric w\ any electrical usage including ignition systems) but since I read that this PFTE grease product I had bought to use to lube poly bushings is "dielectric" (and have seen YouTube videos of others using this type grease w\ these COP coils) I ASSUMED it was good for this use...……….
An unnecessary set of COP coils & 2 sets of ruined plugs later I now know it
isn't good for this use...…… Only good thing is that I now have a known good spare set of original MC DG-521 COP brown boot 12mm ignition coils that just need this grease cleaned out of the boots & springs to "fix" them...…...
I just bought a small jar of ACDelco brand dielectric grease that proves my point as the actual package description doesn't say anything about using it w\ any ignition systems much less these modern high voltage systems but read the Amazon online description of the same product...….
This time I bought it for it's intended purposes (I focused on the actual package label shown by the pictures of the product instead of on the written description given in Amazon & the reviews folks gave to make this decision this round)...….and it ain't for spark plug boots either...……….
I know there are lots of folks who use this stuff on the very same systems w\ some success that will swear it's good...........
All I'm doing is posting my experiences along w\ some pertinent data I found\learned along the way on this BBS to strongly suggest otherwise concerning this product & it's use w\ these type ignition systems. You don't have to take my word on this....check for yourselves.
The rest is story telling to give context to my experiences w\ my car around these Lunati VooDoo #21270700 cams & the data from running them that is shared\given......as I found no info on these cams on this BBS so I thought I'd share the experiences I've had w\ them to date...……..
So far they show to be an excellent set of cams to give some HP\TQ increase vs OEM but also drive as well or better than OEM to give an excellent all around performance envelope, especially if supported w\ the right supporting mods (which can be said of ANY camshaft grind...) & properly tuned to extract it....... Some day I hope to find how well they may work under FI.....
After that it's up to the reader to decide...........